Nancy Pardo and her husband Tom.
Nancy Pardo
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Nancy Pardo
Nancy Pardo and her husband Tom.
Nancy Pardo
This story is a part of the My Unsung Hero sequence, from the Hidden Brain group, about individuals whose kindness left a long-lasting impression on another person.
In 2015, Nancy Pardo and her husband, Tom, spent just a few days climbing in a nationwide park in Maine. One morning, as they have been strolling on a footpath, Tom fainted. Later that day, he fainted once more.
They went straight to the native hospital, the place docs ran a number of exams however couldn’t work out why Tom had handed out. So Tom and Nancy have been despatched on their means.
They left the hospital and began strolling, in search of a spot to have lunch. When they stopped exterior a restaurant to have a look at a menu, Tom fainted once more. And this time, it was a lot worse.
“He went down tougher and stayed out longer,” Nancy recalled.
Strangers appeared and referred to as 911, and Nancy and Tom went again to the identical hospital, the place they stayed for a number of days. From there they have been transferred to the most important hospital within the space, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in order that Tom may get a extra sophisticated process – a coronary heart catheterization. It would enable his docs to find out if Tom had any blockages, which could clarify the fainting spells.
But simply as earlier than, the medical group couldn’t discover any apparent issues. For Tom and Nancy, the uncertainty was terrifying.
“I used to be very afraid,” Nancy stated. “And the subsequent morning, when the physician got here to launch us, I requested him, ‘What can we do now?'”
She assumed he would recommend one other take a look at or one other specialist. But he did not say something like that.
“Dr. Isidore Okere, who I’ll keep in mind my complete life, stated to us, ‘Go stay your life,'” Nancy recalled. “It wasn’t in a flippant means. It was his recommendation to us.”
And that’s what they’ve achieved. Despite two bouts of most cancers since 2008, Tom is doing properly and walks greater than 5 miles a day. And Dr. Isidore Okere continues to work on the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, in Bangor, Maine, the place he’s a heart specialist.
“Now we’re…taking Dr. Okere’s recommendation as usually as we are able to, making an attempt to not be afraid,” Nancy stated. “And to go stay our lives.”
My Unsung Hero can be a podcast — new episodes are launched each Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain group, report a voice memo in your telephone and ship it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.